Vijay Balasubramanian University of Pennsylvania, SFI The human brain consists of a 100 billion neurons connected by a 100 trillion synapses. In its computational function, each neuron is a simple electrical device. In this sense it is no different, in its conceptual essence, from a transistor or a diode in a silicon microchip, converting input signals into ephemeral voltage pulses that transmit to other neurons. And yet, the collective effect of these tiny electrical flutterings creates the intelligent mind, with its astonishing capacity for perception and action, memory and imagination, affection and indifference. In the words of Ramon y Cajal (1854-1932), a founding figure of neuroscience, neurons are "the mysterious butterflies of the soul, whose beating of wings may one day reveal to us the secrets of the mind." In this talk, Vijay Balasubramanian will explore current ideas about how this transmutation occurs.
Il cervello umano è costituito da 100 miliardi di neuroni collegati da una sinapsi di 100 trilioni. Nella sua funzione computazionale, ogni neurone è un semplice dispositivo elettrico. In questo senso non è diverso, nella sua essenza concettuale, da un transistor o un diodo in un microchip al silicio, convertendo i segnali di ingresso in impulsi di tensione effimeri che trasmettono ad altri neuroni. Eppure, l'effetto collettivo di questi piccoli svolazzi elettrici crea la mente intelligente, con la sua sorprendente capacità di percezione e azione, memoria e immaginazione, affetto e indifferenza. Nelle parole di Ramon y Cajal (1854-1932), una figura fondante della neuroscienza, i neuroni sono "le misteriose farfalle dell'anima, il cui battito delle ali potrebbe un giorno rivelarci i segreti della mente."In questo discorso, Vijay Balasubramanian esplorerà le idee attuali su come avviene questa trasmutazione.
Il cervello umano è costituito da 100 miliardi di neuroni collegati da 100 trilioni di sinapsi. Nella sua funzione computazionale, ogni neurone è un semplice dispositivo elettrico. In questo senso non è diverso, nella sua essenza concettuale, da un transistor o un diodo in un microchip di silicio, che converte i segnali di ingresso in impulsi di tensione effimeri che trasmettono ad altri neuroni. Eppure, l'effetto collettivo di questi minuscoli sbalzi elettrici crea la mente intelligente, con la sua sorprendente capacità di percezione e azione, memoria e immaginazione, affetto e indifferenza. Secondo Ramon y Cajal (1854-1932), figura fondatrice delle neuroscienze, i neuroni sono "le misteriose farfalle dell'anima, il cui battito d'ali potrebbe un giorno rivelarci i segreti della mente". In questo discorso, Vijay Balasubramanian esplorerà le idee attuali su come avviene questa trasmutazione.
Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science Volume 50, Issue 7
A basic canon of the systems approach applicable to any field is the notion that a system is separable and distinct from its wider environment. In short, to formally study such a system, it must have a well-defined boundary beyond which it has no substantial impact on its wider context, while its wider context is usually composed of similar systems which have minimal impact on the system in question. The implication is that the environment defined by its boundary ‘excludes’ any significant actions or interactions essential for the functioning of the system itself. This is, in some respects, equivalent to the notion that we are defining a closed system which we can study in isolation from any extraneous or exogenous factors that might affect its operation. It is the definition used by Karl Popper (1959) to justify the use of the classical scientific method as fashioned in experimental science where the laboratory must be closed from the outside environment for robust theories to be tested and validated. In the case of cities, historically or at least from the middle of the last century, such boundaries are typically defined to minimise the overall interactions between the system and its environment. The implication is that insofar as there are many distinct systems, to minimise the interactions between one another, they are often arranged as a hierarchy. To minimise the exchange of energies between the system and all the systems within its environment, a good working definition of a system is that it contains the most significant interactions within the system itself (Simon, 1969). This question of course turns on what is regarded as ‘significant’.
Dense community networks bring resilience, equality and agency to our places: how we’re mapping and exploring social capital to test and develop these hypotheses An Understory map of community acti…
In brief On the 23rd November 2022, 80 relationship-centred practitioners came together at Northumbria University to unpack the how, what and why of relationship-centred practice. Relationships Pro…
Bridging Borders, Building Impact: Amplifying Social Impact through Collaborative Connections – Zoom, Tue Sep 19, 2023 - This session is aimed to explore the strategies, challenges and successes of different impact networks and how collaboration and innovation play a pivotal role in amplifying social impact. In this session, we will learn from other network leaders - The Power o
On this segment of Reality Roundtable, Nate is joined by William Rees, Nora Bateson, and Rex Weyler to discuss the purpose of ecology and what it might look like to have a civilization centered around it. Despite our tendency to think of ourselves as separate from the biosphere, humans are a part of it, just like any other animal. What sets us apart now is our outsized impact on the world around us, as we and our societies take up more space and resources, degrading the ecosystems that support ourselves, our descendants, and other species. How can an understanding of systems and relationships help us rethink how we interact with the planet? Could ecologically literate governments and citizens create wider boundaries across time and space in which decisions are made? What might the parameters be for a civilization centered around ecology, and how can we navigate there through declining energy and resource availability? Most of all, how can we as individuals and communities root ourselves into a deep(er) ecological knowledge and way of being?
From the astonishing evolutionary advances of the Cambrian explosion to our present-day computing revolution, the trend of dramatic growth after periods of stability can be explained through the theory of the "adjacent possible," says theoretical biologist Stuart Kauffman. Tracing the arc of human history through the tools and technologies we’ve invented, he explains the impact human ingenuity has had on the planet -- and calls for a shift towards more protection for all life on Earth.
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David Sloan Wilson, Guru Madhavan, Michele J. Gelfand, Steven C. Hayes, Paul W. B. Atkins, and Rita R. Colwell
PNAS 120 (16) e2218222120
Evolutionary science has led to many practical applications of genetic evolution but few practical uses of cultural evolution. This is because the entire study of evolution was gene centric for most of the 20th century, relegating the study and application of human cultural change to other disciplines. The formal study of human cultural evolution began in the 1970s and has matured to the point of deriving practical applications. We provide an overview of these developments and examples for the topic areas of complex systems science and engineering, economics and business, mental health and well-being, and global change efforts.
The constituents of many complex systems are characterized by non-trivial connectivity patterns and dynamical processes that are well captured by network models. However, most systems are coupled with each other through interdependencies, characterized by relationships among heterogeneous units, or multiplexity, characterized by the coexistence of different kinds of relationships among homogeneous units. Multilayer networks provide the framework to capture the complexity typical of systems of systems, enabling the analysis of biophysical, social and human-made networks from an integrated perspective. Here I review the most important theoretical developments in the past decade, showing how the layered structure of multilayer networks is responsible for phenomena that cannot be observed from the analysis of subsystems in isolation or from their aggregation, including enhanced diffusion, emergent mesoscale organization and phase transitions. I discuss applications spanning multiple spatial scales, from the cell to the human brain and to ecological and social systems, and offer perspectives and challenges on future research directions.
I costituenti di molti sistemi complessi sono caratterizzati da modelli di connettività non banali e processi dinamici che sono ben catturati dai modelli di rete. Tuttavia, la maggior parte dei sistemi sono accoppiati tra loro attraverso interdipendenze, caratterizzate da relazioni tra unità eterogenee, o multiplexity, caratterizzate dalla coesistenza di diversi tipi di relazioni tra unità omogenee. Le reti multistrato forniscono la struttura per catturare la complessità tipica dei sistemi di sistemi, consentendo l'analisi delle reti biofisiche, sociali e create dall'uomo da una prospettiva integrata. Qui passo in rassegna gli sviluppi teorici più importanti degli ultimi dieci anni, mostrando come la struttura a strati delle reti multistrato sia responsabile di fenomeni che non possono essere osservati dall'analisi di sottosistemi isolati o dalla loro aggregazione, inclusa la diffusione migliorata, l'organizzazione emergente della mesoscala e le transizioni di fase. Discuto applicazioni che abbracciano più scale spaziali, dalla cellula al cervello umano e ai sistemi ecologici e sociali, e offro prospettive e sfide sulle future direzioni di ricerca.
Let’s start with a little good news. In spite of all that conspires to the contrary, we are seeing some positive trends.
People are hungry for effective action. We are seeing a shift in some quarters away from “help us establish agreement on why racial justice and racial equity are important” to “help us build agreement on how we are going to make a real difference.” There is more need than ever for creative thinking and evidence about the effectiveness of efforts. People don’t just want to be busy, they want to move the needle on outcomes that matter within their organizations and within the communities they are serving or organizing.
From the smallest, micro-scales to large, macro-scales, the workings of many systems can be understood at multiple levels. Growing evidence suggests that the mesoscale, which connects the two extremes, is a good starting point when trying to build an ontology or complete understanding of a system. In a new paper in Philosophy of Science, Julia Bursten (University of Kentucky) and SFI Postdoctoral Fellow Kelle Dhein add to that argument, highlighting the importance of the mesoscale through a case study of modeling insect behavior at multiple scales.
Our infrastructures are vital to enabling the complexity of modern life. Yet the role they have in creating technological, institutional, and behavioural path dependencies is often underestimated…
Binghamton Center of Complex Systems (CoCo) Seminar September 27, 2023 Cliff Joslyn (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory / Systems Science and Industrial Engineering,…
Eleni Nisioti, Colby Clark, Kaushik Kunal Das, Ekkehard Ernst, Nicholas A. Friedenberg, Emily Gates, Maryl Lambros, Anita Lazurko, Nataša Puzović, Ilvanna Salas
Front. Complex Syst., 25 September 2023
The term “resilience” has risen in popularity following a series of natural disasters, the impacts of climate change, and the Covid-19 pandemic. However, different disciplines use the term in widely different ways, resulting in confusion regarding how the term is used and difficulties operationalising the underlying concept. Drawing on an overview of eleven disciplines, our paper offers a guiding framework to navigate this ambiguity by suggesting a novel typology of resilience using an information-theoretic approach. Specifically, we define resilience by borrowing an existing definition of individuals as sub-systems within multi-scale systems that exhibit temporal integrity amidst interactions with the environment. We quantify resilience as the ability of individuals to maintain fitness in the face of endogenous and exogenous disturbances. In particular, we distinguish between four different types of resilience: (i) preservation of structure and function, which we call “strong robustness”; (ii) preservation of function but change in structure (“weak robustness”); (iii) change in both structure and function (“strong adaptability”); and (iv) change in function but preservation in structure (“weak adaptability”). Our typology offers an approach for navigating these different types and demonstrates how resilience can be operationalised across disciplines.
And then comes the time to let go ... To close a (once) thriving network can be a delicate process. It’s different from closing a business or start-up because of its unique network structures which comes with its own challenges: who has the right to decide it’s time to close? How can we care for everyone’s feelings?
We don’t have answers to all of these questions, in this session we engaged in a joint inquiry with the experts Sophy Banks and Louise Armstrong.
In dissonance with the mainstream culture where death and endings are still taboo and grieving has little space, we ask ourselves: what does it mean to close well?
In brief On the 23rd November 2022, 80 relationship-centred practitioners came together at Northumbria University to unpack the how, what and why of relationship-centred practice. Relationships Pro…
With balanced, intentional power also increases freedom and choice on all levels. A world beyond power-over and its twin power-under is possible but it requires prosocial structures.
We are living through a pivotal moment in human history. We are in the throes of disruption as the systems we have come to rely upon seem to collapse, forcing us into constant firefighting mode. Th…
Like chefs at a fast-moving restaurant or engineers in a multidisciplinary project, team members often complete separate, interrelated subsets of larger tasks with limited insight into the work of others. These contexts make it difficult for individuals to assess the value of their own contribution to the collective work. Our work shows that despite this obstacle, individuals can still learn from their neighbors when neighbors’ actions influence collective outcomes. Though the effects are modest, we found that teams with more interactions between members perform better when refining their work while teams with fewer interactions perform better when innovating. We also found that across 34 tasks with diverse qualities, teams that decentralize coordination responsibilities outperform those that do not.
Theory in Biosciences volume 142, pages 291–299 (2023)
This work concerns a many-body deterministic model that displays life-like properties such as emergence, complexity, self-organization, self-regulation, excitability and spontaneous compartmentalization. The model portraits the dynamics of an ensemble of locally coupled polar phase oscillators, moving in a two-dimensional space, that under certain conditions exhibit emergent superstructures. Those superstructures are self-organized dynamic networks, resulting from a synchronization process of many units, over length scales much greater than the interaction range. Such networks compartmentalize the two-dimensional space with no a priori constraints, due to the formation of porous transport walls, and represent a highly complex and novel non-linear behavior. The analysis is numerically carried out as a function of a control parameter showing distinct regimes: static pattern formation, dynamic excitable networks formation, intermittency and chaos. A statistical analysis is drawn to determine the control parameter ranges for the various behaviors to appear. The model and the results shown in this work are expected to contribute to the field of artificial life.
The Yes! We Rise podcast features solutions-seekers, change-makers, and those creating a resilient future. We share stories and strategies to inspire action to build resilience …
the Aso Oke weaving process is a communal endeavor that fosters collaboration. It typically involves a group of weavers working together, each contributing their expertise and skills to create intricate and beautiful textiles. In like manner, the African Changemakers network adopts a decentralized leadership style combined with a collaborative approach that mirrors the essence of an impact alliance, where young leaders from diverse backgrounds, grassroot communities, talents, and exposure come together to address systemic issues while reaching for transformative shifts towards equity and liberation.
Farmers shifting into regenerative practices must find markets for products that are value added, but may not fit industry specific standards. This is a conversation to support the farm to table movement, starting at community level.
By Daniel Black and Geoff Bates What are some key tips for establishing new, large consortia to tackle complex global challenges? What are the best ways to coordinate large groups of researchers, practitioners and publics towards a shared goal? Describing this type of research is cumbersome. As a shorthand we have started to use the…
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